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Month: July 2016

Women golfers and any of the women golf professionals will tell you that problems with your feet, even a corn or callus can dramatically affect your scorecard at the end of the day. Foot problems can impede your balance and affect your timing leaving you wondering what happened to your usual great game of golf. Women are usually more mindful of taking care of their feet but women golfers may not be aware just how taking care of their feet can help maintain their excellent game.

How does golf impact my feet?

The physical impact of golf on the body is usually underestimated. Which on one hand is why it is so healthy and on the other why it is so important to understand that you need to keep taking care of your body while playing golf.

The torque of a golf swing can strain the muscles in your legs, abdomen and back. The fact that the game is usually played on hilly terrain usually increases the impact on these muscles and may lead to injury.

However, on the more healthy side a round of golf adds up to a four or five mile workout that can reduce stress and improve cardiovascular health. With an increase in the numbers of women facing heart related health issues – women golfers are a step ahead in terms of looking after their long term health.

If you combine the muscle strain required for your golf swing and the miles on the golf course, you can soon see why your feet are so impacted by the sport you love to play. Also if you want to keep enjoying your game, you need to make the investment in time and money to look after your feet.

Five general tips for women golfers on looking after their feet:

It is tempting to go all out from the first hole showing your fellow women golfers just how good you are. If you really want to take care of your body and ensure your longevity as a woman golfer, we suggest you start out easy and build up your playing time carefully. This allows your body to become used to both the physical impact of golf and build up strength in all of the impacted muscle groups.

Make sure that stretching becomes part of your warm up routine, especially before you hit off the first tee. Stretching during your round of golf also helps to keep your muscles warm and limber while your fellow women golfers take their shots. Just be mindful not to do your stretches in their line of sight – it may win you the game but not any friends.

Fit your golf shoes with the socks you plan to wear on the green. This ensures you have the perfect fit. Golf shoes are an investment in your game and for this investment to pay off, you need to ensure you have exactly the right fit when your all geared up for golf.

Just as stretching at the beginning and during your golf is important. It is vital that you stretch at the end of your game. This helps to avoid the stiffness following a good round with your women golfer buddies.

Women golfers are making a large number of strength adjustments while they are playing golf as well as when they are carrying very heavy golf equipment around the course. It is important that you bend with your legs and not your waist when you’re lifting your golf bag. This helps to avoid straining your back, which is already doing some amazing physical feats during your swing, and putting an overload on your feet.

Cut a hole in a 1.5”piece of foam or felt, forming a ‘doughnut’ over the blister; Tape the foam or felt in place or cover with a soft gel-type dressing.

Treat an open blister with mild soap and water and cover it with an antiseptic ointment and protective soft gel dressing to prevent infection and speed up the healing process.(The society of chiropodists and podiatrists)

How should women golfers choose the right golf equipment and golf apparel to take care of their feet?

Socks

Good socks will not only help keep your feet comfortable within your shoes but will also keep them dry by drawing moisture away from the feet. Whatever you do, don’t wear 100% cotton socks – they hold the moisture against the skin, causing painful blistering.

Wool and silk are often found blended with the latest generation of synthetic materials. If you find wool too warm or irritating, you could try an acrylic blended sock.

Golf Shoes

Men and women golfers of today live in an age where golf shoes have advanced from the stuffy brogues of old. Today’s golf shoes are subject to the best technology has to offer while also integrating style and comfort. Some of the golf shoe manufacturers have advanced to the point of golf shoes being hardly noticeable on the feet and more like a natural extension of your leg.

Long hours on your feet are nothing new for women. Golfers know the value of golf shoes enhancing their comfort, balance and stability. If you’re investing in a new pair of golf shoes, there are some practical tips you can follow to find the optimal in comfort, style and overall care for your feet.

Make sure the shoes fit well in the store before you purchase them by:

Shop for golf shoes in the afternoon, when your feet are slightly swollen, this then mirrors the size of your feet on the golf course;

Try on golf shoes with the same socks you will be wearing during the game, to make sure you have the perfect fit;

Make sure you try on both the left and right shoes, as the size of your feet may differ slightly; Tie both the left and right shoe tightly and walk around the store or pro shop for a few minutes to ensure you are really fitting the shoes for the ultimate care of your feet during the long hours on the green;

Women golfers do not need to sacrifice style these days in choosing the perfect pair of golf shoes – manufacturers such as Nike, Footjoy, Sandbaggers, Ecco, Pumas and Adidas have all invested large amounts of time and money to give women golfers style as well as integrating the latest sports technology in their golf shoes.

We all know how hard it is to find a good insurance policy that will cover people of or close to retiring age. MSN Money UK has even come out with an article asking if insurance firms discriminate against people over their fifties. Yet insurance for 50 plus people is almost a necessity. Without financial protection, this age group may find it difficult or downright impractical to indulge in their favorite activities, such as travel and golfing – just when they are at an age when they most deserve to enjoy their free time.

Knowing this, however, some companies have made it a point to make golf insurance and travel insurance more accessible to clients (and women golfers) of an advanced age. Better yet, some companies have created comprehensive golf travel insurance packages which would benefit active mature people who love both traveling and playing golf!

Golf tours are always enjoyable for women golfers and enthusiasts of the sport, no matter the age. You can get tired of your friendly neighborhood golf club, after all, and when this happens you can get away for a weekend and explore another green. This keeps the love of the sport fresh, and allows one to socialize with other women golfers.

For the most part (!!), golf is a non-violent sport, one you can enjoy in peace and relative solitude. However, the number of risks one may encounter on the green could be staggering. Even if you have been a golfer for many years, you may still find yourself in a bind.

For example, theft and property damage are standard risks for a sport that is as expensive as golfing – while you can trust the staff in most clubs to keep an eye on your gear, you just can’t tell what will happen outside the driving range! And certainly not in a less familiar milieu, such as another state or another country.

It would be smart to consider your belongings in addition to your golf equipment. In fact, I recently lost a very expensive earring after I stupidly put it in the cup holder of the cart. It must have fallen out on the green but no one turned it in. It wasn’t covered on my home owner’s policy so I’m just out of luck because I didn’t have this supplemental insurance. Believe me, the recovery of the cost of that earring would more than make up for the extra premiums expense.

You could also suffer physical injury on the green. On the other hand, you could inadvertently cause harm to the property or health of any other golfer, and you may be held financially liable. Being far away from home may mean not having easy access to your bank or your lawyer; you may then incur some losses during your golf tour. Golf insurance on its own should cover these losses in full or in part, which may be especially useful in case they end up stretching your original budget for the trip.

When shopping around for a good golf travel insurance plan, make sure to ask what sort of help your prospective providers can offer in case of medical emergencies. Firms that offer any sort of travel insurance to older jet setters make it a point to include emergency medical accommodations in their plans. These are sometimes called the “air evacuation” or “medical evacuation” clause. If these are not included in the plans being presented to you, you may need to inquire about them – or start looking for a better provider.

It is always challenging to find good insurance companies. You need to do your research and maybe a little legwork – although many of the better and bigger insurance providers already have a Web presence, which makes the task easier. Now with just a few clicks of your mouse button, you can access information that could help in finding the right companies and plans that would cover all your traveling needs. Travel Insurance Review is a website that contains helpful information that would help a woman golfer and jet setter of any age get a leg up in the search for a good travel insurance plan.

You may think golf is just for young women golfers? Tell that to Elsie McLean who, at 102, is the oldest golfer (male OR female) to hit a hole-in-one at a regulation course. (April 5, 2007 – 100 yards, par 3, hole 4 – Bidwell Muncipal Golf Course.). After being interviewed on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” in April 2007, she commented: “For an old lady, I still hit the ball pretty good.” Leno replied . . . “Sweetheart, you’re 102 years old. You’re doing pretty pretty well to even see the ball, and not confuse it for a clock radio or your
nephew Stanley.”

Women’s Golf, is enjoyed by young and old alike and, when played in a healthy and fitness-conscious manner, can be played by any age group.

Golf and Exercise

Golf itself is a healthy sport to take up. While it doesn’t pack the same punch as jogging, it provides aerobic exercise through walking between holes and it improves the strength and flexibility of the body. It’s estimated that women golfers burn 306 calories per hour playing golf when they forego the golf cart. That means a two hour game of golf burns a respectable 600 calories. It’s one of those sports that feeds back on itself so that the more you keep up with it, the healthier you can be and the more you can play. Paying attention to warming up and doing exercises to maximize flexibility will keep you on the course week after week for years to come.

Stretching

The trick to staying healthy and keeping your golf game functional is performing stretching exercises. Mike Pedersen, a well-known golf performance training expert, says that if you “want to maximize your golf potential, you must choose stretching exercises for golf that are specifically beneficial to an efficient golf swing.” He says that doing random stretching exercises won’t improve your golf swing for the long term and that you must establish a specific program for stretching.

Examples of good stretching exercises for women golfers (and men golfers) include the “Standing Twist with Club” in which you hold the club chest high and grip the club shoulder width apart. Keeping your feet and hips stable, you rotate the club back and forth from right to left until you’ve done it ten times. This makes your torso flexible.

Another good exercise is called “Backswing Stretch with Club” in which you extend your left arm out in front of you and take both hands and put them on top of the club. Drop your upper body down against the club to feel a stretch in the left shoulder. Hold this for fifteen seconds and repeat with the other side. This stretches out your shoulder.

Finally there is the “Side Stretch”. Grab the club with both hands behind your neck or above your head and widen out your grip. Tip your body to the left and stretch before going back to the middle. Repeat with the right side and do this combination a total of ten times. This is a good spine stretch and helps the muscles of your torso remain stretched.

Some golfers also stretch their hamstrings and lower body as well. It all depends on how much time you have and on your personal preference. Having a set sequence of exercises that you do each time means that you don’t forget important areas of the body and you are flexible before each and every game.

We strongly recommend the Fit Golf For Women program. This was created by Mike Pedersen and will give you access to great exercies and programs – all right online – to help you improve your game, feel and look better, and much more.

Walk the Course

Golfing is a reasonably good aerobic exercise for those who walk the course. Walking the golf course gets your heart pumping, especially if you carry or wheel your own bags and yet doesn’t overdo the heart, making it healthy for all ages. In addition, muscles, especially of the upper body and torso are kept strong and prevented from being atrophied due to disuse.

Golf is a sport that women golfers can begin at any age and at nearly any fitness level. A person can gradually work themselves from riding the golf cart to walking the course in order to maximize the benefit of the game.

You may even want to get a cart with a friend and take turns with one driving and the other walking – alternating holes. Do your stretching exercises to stay away from injuries and golf can be your best friend and a beloved sport.

For women golfers who are required to wear prescription lenses or need to take care of protecting your eyes from UV light, we want to help you understand the options available along with the best advice on eye care for the golf course.

Most of us wear some kind of eye wear, whether it’s glasses, contact lenses or sunglasses. In some cases you need to wear prescription lenses to correct your vision, in others it can be to reduce glare or for cosmetic reasons. It is important that you find the right kind of eye wear to suit your needs on the golf course.

Prescription Glasses

Women golfers may find prescription glasses become a hassle on the course as they:

Can produce distracting reflections;
Easily fall off during your golf swing or when your bending down to putt;
Can become dirty or fogged; and
Have a limited field of vision as they don’t correct your peripheral vision.

There are other alternatives available. If however, you want to stick with your glasses, you can help them to stay on with sports cords and spectacle chains. You can also get clip on sunglass lenses to reduce glare and reflections, although you may need to make sure these are stable during your swing or putt.

Contact Lenses

Contact lenses improve on eyeglasses for golfers, not only in the peripheral visual field but also in the overall quality of vision. Many women golfers note that when they wear their contact lenses while playing golf, they can see subtle breaks in the green that were not appreciable before with their normal prescription glasses.

You also don’t need to worry about contact lenses falling off during your swing or when you’re bending over your putter. As with everything in sports, Nike have also been innovative in the area of contact lenses. You can now get sport-tinted contact lenses (Nike MAXSIGHT™) which is a soft contact lens available in two glare-reducing tints.

The one drawback of contact lenses is for those women golfers who also have allergies. The allergens can adhere to the lens surface and exaggerate their symptoms.

Sunglasses

If you are looking for sunglasses in general or as a golfer, there are several buying musts that you should consider:

The lenses should provide 100% UVA and UVB protection;
You should consider wraparound frames that protect your eyes completely from the harmful UV rays;
Look for polarized lenses as they limit the rays of light that pass through the lens. This virtually eliminates glare allowing your eyes to relax and making it easier to track the ball in flight; and
Whether it’s normal glasses or sunglasses that you choose, when you are wearing them for golf, you need to think of getting polycarbonate lenses – just in case you are one of the unfortunate golfers who are struck in the eye by a golf ball. (Yes it happens frequently enough to have professional advice attached to it!)
Should you choose not to go for the wraparound style of sunglasses then you will need to apply a sensitive sun-protection lotion to your eyelids. This is to protect them from Skin Cancer; it should be at least SPF 15.

Emergency Eye Care Procedures

Although it may not be a medical emergency, coping with allergies or dry eyes on the golf course can handicap your game. If it is allergies that are causing your eyes to well up or become so itchy it’s driving you crazy, you can look at taking an antihistamine or using a topical medication like eye drops.

If on the other hand you have those same teary eyes when the weather is cold or windy – you are probably and ironically suffering from dry eye. The best way to treat dry eye is to use lubricating eye drops regularly during the day, as this helps to provide the moisture that the eye needs.

Whatever your eye care needs, there are as with anything either to do with women or women golfers – extensive ranges of options available. Perhaps you want those top-end golf sunglasses or require sports contact lenses. You can even get special glasses that help you to see the ball lying in the grass, even if it may make you look a little like a radioactive scientist. What’s most important is that you take care of your eyes in relation to both sun damage and any other irritants on the golf course.

Affluent, elegant women golfers are no longer happy to settle for mid-range golf apparel which leaves them feeling merely part of the crowd. For the most sophisticated, high class women’s golf wear to be found on cat walks and in the most prestigious boutiques, the real leading ladies are stepping up and investing in the best.

While golf couture at this high-end level will offer both performance and a fashion-savvy approach, the collections from the main houses generally lean towards one or the other and can be defined as either sportswear with sophisticated touches or fashion wear with performance details.

If you are the woman who other women want to be, and it is important that you look amazing wherever you are, then you will love Bogner’s Spring Collection which offers elegant and classic pieces for women golfers. The long sleeved polo shirts with moisture wicking technology show that you are a performance-aware lady, and the sharply tailored Carol Snap Front Cardigan is cut from 100% virgin wool to help you remain unruffled on the greens.

?The delectable Lilys of Beverly Hills Spring 2008 Collection is geared to the tennis playing lady, although some of its pieces would double perfectly well as summer apparel for women golfers. In particular the fresh and fruity Somerset range including feminine dresses and tees in pastel-toned tartan will turn heads and lift your game to the skies.

?The feminine Titania Golf line offers poetically-named designs, with favorites including a satin-trimmed Oriental top in the Fall Foliage range, and cute tees in a choice of vibrant colors from the Bushfire, Colors of the Ocean, and Colors of the Reef ranges. This line is one of our favorites for performance and style designed for women golfers.

?At the high performance end, Tail Golf’s Wild One Collection boasts sportswear designed to please the lady who knows what she wants, with Colorblock Performance Shirts in UV Protective fabric, high thread count Quilted Vests with gold stitching fit for a queen, and Packable Lightweight Windbreakers.

?Similarly performance-orientated, the ProQuip Collection offers a selection of quality women’s golf apparel which is the product of careful thought and research. The lightweight, waterproof Liberty Jacket is cut from a high-technology fabric while the Silk Touch Windproof’s silent silky finish won’t utter the merest whisper to distract you during your swing.

?However, there is one designer who creates ladies golf apparel which is capable of hitting all the right buttons in terms of both performance and fashion.

The younger, sexier catwalk polish of the Ralph Lauren 2007 US Open Collection will steal many admiring glances, therefore is not for the shy and retiring. With an overall feel of sophisticated sporty-ness and slim, figure hugging lines, the collection celebrates and flatters a woman’s shape whilst also being practical and comfortable. The limited edition trim-fit polo shirts, crew neck sweaters, and logo tees are tight and teasing, and can be finished off with the Tessa jacket with rib knit collar and funky metallic stripes on the shoulders and sleeves.

Their RLX Collection is chic and stylish with wicktech fairway shirts in a slim-fit style to show off your trim and toned golfer’s physique and keep moisture away from your body, whilst its elasticity allows ease of movement. Their polos prioritise airflow with a moisture wicking fabric and mesh panels to keep you cool and collected even on the balmiest days. The fantastic V-Neck Sweater is perfect for elegant layering and is designed with stretch ability and comfort in mind. Their Merino Wool Club Vests with leather trim are well-cut and classy with a few provocative details like the fine strap and buckle at the throat. For a sportier alternative the Factor Vest is quilted with wicking fabric to keep you dry and protected from the chilliest wind, as is the Light Weight Pull-over Windshirt and slim-fit Track Jacket.

?So ladies, it is time to flutter your gold card as well as your lashes and treat yourself to some pristine new golf wear before the new season begins. Go on, enjoy yourself, you’re worth it!